Recipe: Baked Autumn Donuts.

I am so excited about the October Pin It Do It Challenge, I can’t even begin to tell you all! I’m talking eager teenage boy on prom night kind of excited. On October 1, I completed my first pin challenge. After scouring through my multiple boards, I decided on completing a recipe. Jessica Sanders, a blogger over at Feastie, supplied me with the motivation to get my October challenge groove on.

Check out the original recipe at http://www.feastie.com/blog/baked-apple-cider-donut-holes

The pin was for Baked Apple Cider Donut Holes but I altered the recipe slightly. Instead of baked apple cider donut holes, I made baked autumn donuts, combining flavors of maple, apple, cinnamon, and pumpkin. Just imagine the smells that will overtake your kitchen, and you will find yourself demonstrating Pavlov’s theory real quick.

Start with a large bowl and mix the flour, baking power, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

I was extra excited to make this recipe thanks to my new-to-me mixer! My great-grandmother passed away in June and she was an amazing lady*, especially in the kitchen. I inherited several pieces of her baking supplies, including this beauty! It’s as if she mixes each recipe right alongside me.

In another large mixing bowl, add together the rest of the ingredients. Egg, brown sugar, pumpkin butter, vanilla, honey, water, applesauce, yogurt, and oil… all in the bowl they go. If you don’t have a mixer, don’t fret. You can easily mix this recipe by hand as well.

Mix together until the batter looks like soupy cake batter. I know you’re tempted to dip a finger or two into the batter, but just beware – raw eggs can lead to a belly ache like no other.

Little by little, mix the flour mixture and your wet mixture. You don’t want to mix it into oblivion, or the donuts will be too dense. Don’t get too wacky, mixers.

This will be your finished batter product. It’s similar to cake batter and should have some little air bubbles popping. It completely reminded me of a witch’s cauldron bubbling away, perfect for autumn.

For this recipe, you can use almost any cooking pan. I used four mini-bundt cake pans, along with a muffin pan.

Bake for about ten minutes at 400 degrees. Take your donuts out of the hot pans right away, placing them on a cooling rack. While the donuts are still warm, brush the tops with a little butter or margarine.

Once buttered, dip the top of each donut into a cinnamon and sugar mixture. Just looking at these little delicacies makes me want to whip up another batch!

For the bundt-cake donuts, you can either cut out the middle or leave it. I left mine because the center turned into a catch-all for the melted butter, cinnamon, and sugar. As Winnie the Pooh would say, yum yum in my tum tum.

Baked autumn donuts galore!

Baked Autumn Donuts

Ingredients:
* 2 cups flour
* 1 ½ tsp baking powder
* 1 ½ tsp baking soda
* ½ tsp salt
* 2 tsp cinnamon
* 1 large egg
* 2/3 cup brown sugar
* 1/2 cup pumpkin butter (or apple, maple, etc – any autumn variety)
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 1/3 cup honey
* 1/3 cup applesauce (or cinnamon applesauce)
* 2 Tbsp water (or apple juice)
* 1/3 cup plain yogurt (can use low-fat or fat-free too)
* 2 Tbsp oil (vegetable or olive)

Instructions:
1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a muffin pan, a mini-muffin pan, or mini-bundt cake pans with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
3. In another large bowl, whisk together the egg, brown sugar, apple/pumpkin/maple butter, vanilla extract, honey, applesauce, water (or apple juice), yogurt, and oil. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredient mixture and whisk until combined.
4. Pour batter into pan; fill each muffin-spot or bundt-pan only 3/4 of the way, or it will overflow while baking. Bake for about 10 minutes and cool on a wire rack.
5. While the donuts are still warm, brush the tops with a little butter and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. You can also try confectioner’s sugar!

* Dear WordPress, please stop telling me my use of the word “lady” is bias. According to WordPress, “Bias words and phrases may express gender, ethnic, or racial bias. These can turn people off. Bias-free language has the same meaning and treats people with respect.” When you can explain to me how “lady” is disrespectful, I’ll quit using it. Until then, pipe down.